Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday will embark on a whirlwind tour of Bihar, during which he is likely to cover all 38 districts of the state within 11 days. Evocatively titled 'Jan Vishwas Yatra', a mass outreach programme aimed at winning "public trust", Yadav, who recently lost the deputy chief minister's post, will commence the tour from Muzaffarpur.
He is scheduled to address two more public meetings, in Sitamarhi and Sheohar, before reaching Motihari, the town where East Champaran district is headquartered, for a night halt. On the eve of the commencement of the tour, Yadav went live on Facebook late on Monday evening when he called Chief Minister Nitish Kumar an "old-fashioned leader who would do well to give up his chair on his own".
"We are going among the people from today. The Jan Vishwas Yatra is going to begin today... Nitish Kumar neither has any vision nor any reason to change the alliance... The work which we did in 17 months, we will present that in front of the people... CM Nitish Kumar does not give any importance to people's verdict... The public will give a reply to this..." Tejashwi said.
Yadav, the younger son and heir apparent of RJD president Lalu Prasad, also claimed that he was not distraught at his party losing power due to Kumar's latest volte-face. "But Bihar needs stability and visionary leadership. With his flip-flops and inability to think out of the box, Nitish Kumar has shown that he lacks both," alleged Yadav.
"Yet, in the 17 months that we shared power, we made him take bold decisions in the light of the RJD's pledge to create 10 lakh government jobs. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to take a leaf out of our book and organised Rozgar melas," claimed Yadav.
Taunting his former boss, who is now back in the BJP-led NDA, the RJD leader said, "Nitish Kumar has been uneasy over his JD(U)'s decline and it is rumoured that he wants early dissolution of the assembly. He believes that if polls are held in the state alongside Lok Sabha elections, it will help him revive his party's fortunes. Notably, the tenure of the state assembly ends towards the end of 2025. In the 243-strong House, JD(U) has only 45 members.
Yadav said, "We are not worried about what Nitish Kumar is going to do. But through this Jan Vishwas Yatra, we wish to reach out to the people of Bihar and assure them that come what may, we are by their side." The Jan Vishwas Yatra will conclude on March 1.
